Information Commissioner's Office

Information Commissioner's Office

Established	1984; 40 years ago (1984)
Type	non-departmental public body
Focus	data protection and freedom of information
Headquarters	Wycliffe House
Location	Wilmslow, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Origins	Data Protection Act 1984
Region served	United Kingdom
Information Commissioner	John Edwards
Revenue (2020/2021)	£57,980,542
Expenses (2020/2021)	£57,041,005
Staff	500+
Website	ico.org.uk
Formerly called	Data Protection Registrar

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.^[1] It is the independent regulatory office (national data protection authority) dealing with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 across the UK; and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and, to a limited extent, in Scotland. When they audit an organisation they use Symbiant's audit software.^[2]

The Information Commissioner is in the process of being replaced by the Information Commission by Clause 143 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (once enacted).^[3]